Big R retailer won't be coming to Lake in the Hills
Midwestern retailer Big R won't be taking over the defunct Dominick's property in Lake in the Hills after all.
Big R has backed out of its plan to renovate and expand the existing building at the northeast corner of Algonquin and Randall roads by adding 8,000 square feet on the north side for a total footprint of 80,000 square feet. The village had been in discussions with the retailer for 10 months.
Village officials received a one-paragraph email earlier this summer stating the retailer is no longer interested, said George Hahne, Lake in the Hills economic development coordinator.
“We don't know (why),” Hahne said Monday. “We have not been able to get anything else out of them.”
The project was expected to create 45 full-time jobs and generate roughly $160,000 in yearly sales tax revenue for the village.
BBK Properties LLC and the former Dominick's property owner had agreed on a roughly $4.3 million purchase price for the site at 101 N. Randall Road, in the Center at Lake in the Hills shopping center. Big R had proposed leasing the property, and the entire project was expected to cost $7.8 million.
In May, the village board authorized a $500,000 incentive package for the traditional department store chain to help offset an estimated $2.1 million in anticipated renovation costs.
Central Big R Stores, Inc., — originally Illinois Big R Stores started by Bill and Pat Crabtree in 1964 — opened its first store in Watseka. The company now has 18 retail stores in northern Indiana and central and northern Illinois, including one in McHenry that opened in November.
Its stores are a one-stop shop for everything, including apparel for men, women and children; lawn and garden and farm and livestock supplies; sporting goods; and automotive and pet care products. Village officials had said there aren't any businesses like it in the area.
Hahne said officials are now talking to other interested parties and there could be some movement as soon as next month.
“There is one store for sure ... one large tenant and another smaller tenant who will fall in right behind them because they are related in some way,” he said.